THE Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) and its parent company AB InBev in collaboration with World Wide Fund (WWF) Africa are undertaking a three-day water workshop aimed at improving water quality and quantity as well as protecting watershed biodiversity in the City of Dar es Salaam.
The project will also involve satellite towns in the metropolitan city through bankable nature-based solutions, particularly in the Msimbazi, Mzinga and Ruvu river sub-catchments.
Global Sustainability VP at AB InBev, Andre Fourie said, “Tanzania has abundant water resources in terms of number of lakes, rivers and wetlands, but some communities do not have reliable access to clean drinking water”.
Adding; “The equitable and universal provision of safe, affordable water and ecosystem restoration is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and underpins our partnership with the WWF and collaboration with local stakeholders on how we can have a sustainable, positive impact in this regard.”
Blue Heart of Africa Initiative Leader at WWF, Mr Eric Oyare said, “Following the abatement of Covid restrictions in most countries and the resumption of in-person meetings and conferences, it is an opportune time to bring together partners from across the partnership to share successes from our work together to date”.
“We will also seek to explore in detail and maximize learning from common themes such as invasive non-native species, developing bankable nature-based solutions and mobilising community action and citizen science.”
The Country Director of TBL, Mr Jose Moran, said “We would like to express our gratitude to the WWF and the government who are both essential partners for their contribution towards ensuring that the water stewardship activities are a success.
“These partnerships not only help to safeguard all water sources in Tanzania but are also key to us building resilience in the face of climate change which, climate scientists tell us, is likely to bring with it more severe droughts in the future,” he stated.
WWF Tanzania Country Director, Dr Amani Ngusaru commented; “Water is life, without water there is indeed no life, water contributes to the national economy significantly. And has linkage to the other sectors like Tourism sector, Agriculture sector and industrial development.
The partnership between AB InBev and WWF has now been in place for four years globally and this is the first time that the partnership is forged in Tanzania. The partnership is driven by a shared ambition to measurably improve water quality and quantity in identified high-risk sites by 2025.
The 2022 workshop-themed, Water Stewardship for Africa, is an opportunity for WWF and AB InBev market leads, in-country teams, governmental stakeholders and partners to share knowledge, foster thought leadership and drive water stewardship in local communities.
Leaders from both AB InBev and WWF will engage on the existing projects at various phases of implementation in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique.
The Dar es Salaam Water Security Project, the most recent addition to the partnership, focuses on improving water quality and quantity as well as protecting watershed biodiversity in the city of Dar es Salaam.
The participants will explore partnership and water-related case studies, highlighting the success of collaboration to drive measurable impact on water availability and quality in high-risk sites.
